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Brooklyn

125 years later, Brooklyn's oldest restaurant Gage & Tollner is still building community

2026-06-26

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"I find quite a bit of similarities between 'The Bear' and the Gage & Tollner story: we're re-establishing a place where people have memories, and recollection and expectations," says Sohui Kim, Executive Chef and Partner at Gage & Tollner.

The restaurant, widely considered to be the oldest still standing in Brooklyn, has lived many lives since first opening in 1879. It started as just a little oyster cart before moving to a permanent address. Later, it moved into its current location at 372 Fulton Street where by the 1980s, it was helmed by renowned chef Edna Lewis. By 2004, the restaurant closed and its landmarked interior housed a TGI Friday's and an Arby's.

"Most of what we know about the restaurant was from 1919 until 1989," explains St. John Frizell, a Partner at Gage & Tollner as well as the Sunken Harbor Club, an eclectic tiki bar just up the stairs from the iconic chophouse.

"Gage & Tollner opened in 1879. Probably the most remarkable thing about its history is that it only changed hands four times until we got here. It's just incredible, it's been open for 125 years."

It was in 2017 that Frizell and fellow restaurateur Ben Schneider stumbled upon the building while scouting locations for a potential cocktail bar. They were quickly enamored by its storied history and significance in the Downtown Brooklyn area.

"We were just awe-struck. You could see the potential, and it was amazing," Frizell recounts.

"The thing that made me so intrigued about Gage & Tollner was the romantic feeling of New York history," added Schneider, Partner at Gage & Tollner. "And what's more romantic than a restaurant still preserved in its decor from the 1890s?"

Kim, Frizell, and Schneider spent the next three years developing, strategizing and fundraising for one of the most ambitious endeavors any of them had taken on: restoring and reopening Gage & Tollner.

"To have the opportunity to bring back the most famous restaurant in Brooklyn history, and to be a major part of that, I can't believe the luck in how it all came together," Frizell says.

Looking at FX Original Series "The Bear," all three restaurateurs noted striking parallels to their own journey at Gage & Tollner.

"A show like 'The Bear' comes as close as a show can to depict what really goes on in a restaurant," Kim says. "What happens before the curtains go up? What happens before the doors open? It is dealing with the plumbing, it is dealing with the vendors, it is dealing with the finances."

Beyond the complexities of operating and managing an establishment like The Bear or Gage & Tollner, both the real-life chophouse and the fictional fine dining institution put an emphasis on community, family and cultivating an environment where lasting memories and relationships flourish.

"The reason why we got into this business in the first place was community. The magic of the restaurant is when people show up, and when we have a great day," Kim says. "That is really the magic of restaurants: it's that community and that family."

"I just hope that people can learn from the show," Schneider says, that "it can be dark and it can be rough. But it can also be a family, you know? It can be beautiful and fun."

FX's "The Bear" Season 5 is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC Localish and this station.

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